As it appears that France will miss the 15 October deadline given by the European Commission to prove its lack of wrongdoing in handling the Roma expulsions, the EU executive will make its case “stronger” against Paris, EU officials told EurActiv.

Two days ahead of the deadline set by the Commission, Paris had reportedly “not done much” to abide by the requests. “It’s unrealistic that relevant measures will be notified by the deadline,” said a Commission source.

France was asked to provide by 15 October the text of a draft law aimed at transposing into national law those elements of a directive on the free movement of EU citizens that are not currently part of French legislation, as exposed by the Roma row between Brussels and Paris (see ‘Background’).

In a letter seen by EurActiv which EU Justice and Fundamental Rights Commissioner Viviane Reding sent to the French government at the end of September, she clearly requests the transposition of Articles 27 and 28 of the directive.

These articles regulate expulsions of EU citizens from a member state different from the one of origin, and set out citizens’ rights to protect them from expulsions. Article 27 clearly states that expulsions “shall comply with the principle of proportionality and shall be based exclusively on the personal conduct of the individual concerned”.

The Commission also laments France’s failure to transpose into national law the “procedural and material safeguards” contained in the directive, which sets out a number of stages in the process of expelling an EU citizen.

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